Vagnini outlines why he remains opposed to Maley Drive

Following the mandate of my constituents and my beliefs, I was the only one at council to vote against the Maley extension (12 to 1). Because we live in a democracy I committed to do my best to support what the majority decided. I remember an old friend said, "If you don't stand for something you stand for nothing."

Interesting that I was pressured behind the scenes to change my vote prior to the council meeting when the project was approved. I do not presume to speak for other councillors; however, it is to be noted that I was not made aware of the prime minister coming to Sudbury until shortly before the visit. I was led to believe that the funding from the federal government could only be allocated to the Maley Drive extension. When a reporter asked the prime minister, why he would approve money for a 'contentious’ project, he indicated the federal government was only there to grant the funds and how those funds get used was up to council.

I declared I would not speak out about the project again but I now feel compelled to exercise my minority right to speak out. With all due respect for fellow councillors and city staff I find the progress to date very disturbing for several reasons.

Sudbury is now well into the second year of the project and a review of the accomplishments to date is warranted from my perspective.

I do believe the project to be a white elephant the people of Greater Sudbury will regret or perhaps already do. I believe this project is a road to nowhere until phase two and three are done, 30 years too late, and we will not see phase two or three built in our lifetime.

I am led to believe the estimated total cost with overruns will be between $120 million to $150 million, far in excess of the approved cost.

The project was stated as being needed to show 'good faith' for big news that would be coming from the mining sector. The only big news from that sector so far has been shrinkage and nothing related to need for the project.

The project was stated as being able to create badly needed trades jobs. From a news report stemming from a recent meeting, Mr. James Cuddy, an applied research developer in Cambrian College's applied research department, stated “one just has to look at the now-underway Maley Drive extension project to understand the overall labour shortage situation in the city. While the project is in the construction sector, the contractors working on the project are from out of town and the hundreds of jobs created there are being filled by their people.”

The overpass support structure could have been designed using locally fabricated steel beams. Pre-cast concrete beams were designed and imported from southern Ontario.

The project claimed to upgrade the portion of Maley Drive that was voted as the worst road in Sudbury. This will in fact be in the final portions of the project.

Sudbury now has a clover-leaf to nowhere and Maley Drive itself continues to disintegrate.

Most importantly, while the new clover-leaf has been under construction, deadly intersections of municipal roads and Highway 17 west and other roads in the city continue to claim lives. Money for the clover-leaf alone could have erased the severe hazards from at least two of those intersections. Within the same cost envelope, risk of fatalities on the section of Municipal Road 80 immediately adjacent to the clover-leaf could have been addressed.

I truly hope that construction performance and use of the road will, in history, prove me wrong and that those lives were not lost in vain. At this point in time all indicators are confirming to me, my belief that the majority did not choose rightly in approving the Maley Drive extension.

I remember reading a paper when I was in school years ago entitled Right or Wrong: A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe. The main theme was majority is right only when majority does right.

The above column is my personal perspective only and does not reflect the opinion of my colleagues and/or any staff at the City of Greater Sudbury -- Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini